As part of its expansion plans, Thai online gaming firm Asiasoft has agreed to buy a 61.7 percent stake in Malaysian online gaming company CIB Development.

During the signing ceremony on 1 March 2012, the stake in CIB Development [CIB] is through the acquisition of assets from Choice Heritage and Tujuan Motivasi for RM26.21 million (US$8.62 million), which effectively makes CIB a subsidiary of Asiasoft Corporation (Asiasoft).

Asiasoft chairman Sherman Tan said this move would help the company penetrate Malaysia's online gaming segment. "CIB has a strong position in the local scene as the No.1 online game company for Chinese content and Asiasoft hopes to leverage on this as well as the company's experience and understanding of local gamers' behaviour to help us establish a stronger presence in the market."

"CIB is currently the leading online gaming company in Malaysia. It is the top publisher of Chinese-content online games and has a large client base with loyalty to the company's games," said Tan.

CIB managing director, Alan Ku, said: "I view this as an opportunistic moment as it is in line with CIB's plans to strengthen our leading position in the market. CIB and Asiasoft share common values and have similar vision. Therefore it is only logical that we work together to bring the best localised e-content into the local market space. Now that we are part of a Southeast Asian organisation, we want to be part of that growth story, and hopefully one day, we can be proud of our own localised content that is being developed for this region."

Online gaming company Asiasoft, established in Thailand in 2001, has been a listed entity on the Stock Exchange of Thailand since 2008. The Asiasoft Group currently has six companies, including its subsidiaries, engaged in the online entertainment services in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia.